PC-GUY
1
More power to anyone using SP2 Security Center or Norton Security Center and good luck you'll need that to. 
UPDATED: SP2 alone still doesn't secure users enough. So PC makers are complementing and replacing SP2 features with a variety of solutions.
While they are bullish about Windows XP Service Pack 2, PC makers aren't putting all their security eggs in the Microsoft basket.
PC vendors are well on their way to getting Service Pack 2 (SP2), Microsoft's most recent operating-system update, preloaded on all their new machines. But many PC vendors are complementing ? in, in some cases, replacing ? SP2 features with third-party products.
Take Hewlett Packard, for instance. HP is currently preloading SP2 on its Pavilion and Compaq Presario lines, as well as on its HP Media Center PCs (which run the Windows XP Media Center Edition variant of SP2).
But HP isn't using SP2 as is, said Carol Ozaki, HP's senior product manager for consumer PCs. Instead, HP is replacing the Windows Security Center status bar with Symantec's Norton Security Center. The company also is offering Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall and Norton Antivirus preloaded on HP consumer systems. And it also is preloading Intermute's SpySubtract anti-spyware and SpamSubtract spam-filtering software on new systems, to boot.
The Norton Security Center is a utility that allows users to monitor the status of their antivirus, firewall and Windows Automatic Update components. It parallels almost feature-for-feature the Windows Security Center that Microsoft has built into Windows XP SP2.
While Microsoft has said that SP2 provides customers with a first line of defense against attacks, worms and spyware, the company has advised customers to continue to use third-party antivirus, firewall and other software to which they are accustomed to further secure their PCs.
HP is preloading Norton's Personal Firewall because it is a "much more feature-rich product" than the Windows Firewall that Microsoft includes for free as part of Windows XP SP2, Ozaki said. The Symantec firewall blocks outbound traffic, whereas the Windows firewall blocks only inbound traffic, she noted.
At the same time, HP is going to the trouble of removing the Windows Security Center and replacing it with the Norton Security Center because the Symantec product is easier to use, she said.
With Symantec's offering, "if an antivirus product is not on or up-to-date, you can easily check and turn it on. With the Windows environment, it's more difficult," Ozaki said.
Microsoft released Windows XP SP2 to manufacturing on August 6. Microsoft began pushing the <!-- start ziffarticle //-->SP2 upgrade to users via Automatic Update/Windows Update<!-- end ziffarticle //--> in mid-August. And retailers like <ziffarticle id="136771" amazon.com="" best="" buy="" and="" circuit="" city=""><!-- end ziffarticle //--> began carrying SP2 in early October.</ziffarticle>
Click Here To Read What Other PC Makers Are Doing.
UPDATED: SP2 alone still doesn't secure users enough. So PC makers are complementing and replacing SP2 features with a variety of solutions.
While they are bullish about Windows XP Service Pack 2, PC makers aren't putting all their security eggs in the Microsoft basket.
PC vendors are well on their way to getting Service Pack 2 (SP2), Microsoft's most recent operating-system update, preloaded on all their new machines. But many PC vendors are complementing ? in, in some cases, replacing ? SP2 features with third-party products.
Take Hewlett Packard, for instance. HP is currently preloading SP2 on its Pavilion and Compaq Presario lines, as well as on its HP Media Center PCs (which run the Windows XP Media Center Edition variant of SP2).
But HP isn't using SP2 as is, said Carol Ozaki, HP's senior product manager for consumer PCs. Instead, HP is replacing the Windows Security Center status bar with Symantec's Norton Security Center. The company also is offering Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall and Norton Antivirus preloaded on HP consumer systems. And it also is preloading Intermute's SpySubtract anti-spyware and SpamSubtract spam-filtering software on new systems, to boot.
The Norton Security Center is a utility that allows users to monitor the status of their antivirus, firewall and Windows Automatic Update components. It parallels almost feature-for-feature the Windows Security Center that Microsoft has built into Windows XP SP2.
While Microsoft has said that SP2 provides customers with a first line of defense against attacks, worms and spyware, the company has advised customers to continue to use third-party antivirus, firewall and other software to which they are accustomed to further secure their PCs.
HP is preloading Norton's Personal Firewall because it is a "much more feature-rich product" than the Windows Firewall that Microsoft includes for free as part of Windows XP SP2, Ozaki said. The Symantec firewall blocks outbound traffic, whereas the Windows firewall blocks only inbound traffic, she noted.
At the same time, HP is going to the trouble of removing the Windows Security Center and replacing it with the Norton Security Center because the Symantec product is easier to use, she said.
With Symantec's offering, "if an antivirus product is not on or up-to-date, you can easily check and turn it on. With the Windows environment, it's more difficult," Ozaki said.
Microsoft released Windows XP SP2 to manufacturing on August 6. Microsoft began pushing the <!-- start ziffarticle //-->SP2 upgrade to users via Automatic Update/Windows Update<!-- end ziffarticle //--> in mid-August. And retailers like <ziffarticle id="136771" amazon.com="" best="" buy="" and="" circuit="" city=""><!-- end ziffarticle //--> began carrying SP2 in early October.</ziffarticle>
Click Here To Read What Other PC Makers Are Doing.